P7 - Food Production

             Fowl Trouble by Christopher Cook traces the horrifying production of chicken meat through the eyes of the employees. It lists the different jobs needed to get the chickens from pen to supermarket in a timely manner. The jobs include deboner, offal room attendants, evisc, catchers and hangers. All these positions come with the very real possibility of severe injuries such as carpal tunnel, eye infections, respiratory ailments and the loss of the use of their hands. This article shows the terrifying reality for employees when getting chicken meat to the ever demanding American population.  

            Tomatoland by Barry Eastbrook, paints a similar picture to the one found in Cook’s infographic. It tells of the eye and respiratory ailments, exposure to know carcinogens and horrendous living conditions that the workers are exposed to. In some cases workers are slaves to the tomato fields, held against their will and forced to work or be beaten. Unlike the infographic it also describes the lack of nutritional value that tomatoes have due to commercial farming. “fresh tomato today has 30 percent less vitamin C , 30 percent less thiamin, 1 9 percent less niacin, and 62 percent less calcium than it did in the 1 960s. But the modern tomato does shame its 1960s counterpart in one area: It contains fourteen times as much sodium.” (Eastbrook X) This shows the toll that industrial commercial farming is having on the nutritional value of the tomato. Consumers so desire to have their winter tomatoes that they are lowering their standards. This article parallels the unfair working conditions of the workers with the lack of nutritional value and taste of a tomato to show how badly commercial faming is to the tomato industry.

            An Animal’s Place by Michael Pollan discusses the ethics behind eating animals. It asks us to consider whether the rights of animals are being violated during their confinement and slaughtering. It explores the ethics behind denying animals basic rights solely on the fact that they are not humans. Do animals not feel pain and suffering, shouldn’t they be treated with the same respect as humans?

            An underlying subtly in all of these articles is the capitalistic view that creates these problems. Animals are denied basic right of animals in nature because it is cheaper, easier and space maximizing to keep them in tiny cages. Workers are paid less than minimum wage and forced to endure horrendous working conditions so the companies can turn a larger profit. All of these food and agribusinesses are doing everything they can to turn a larger profit. They cut back on things they don’t have to do, like supplying protective clothing to chicken factory workers, so they can save money and turn a larger profit. These articles all explored the controversial aspects of growing food in slightly different ways and all showed the toll that capitalism is taking on the food industry and all made me lose my appetite.